TSRTC has initially introduced 50 buses on the inaugural route

It has been almost six months since the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) began services for about 30 km on the inaugural route of Nagole-Ameerpet-Miyapur connecting parts of two Corridors — One: Miyapur to L.B. Nagar and Three: Nagole to Hitec City/Raidurg, and yet the first and last mile connectivity has been missing.

Over the past few months, metro rail authorities have made efforts towards providing space for parking at the 24 stations between both sections — two wheelers at several places and four wheelers at a few others — while increasing train frequency. There have been grand announcements of tie-ups with taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber or providing necessary connectivity when these are not exclusive services.

Plus, at a few stations between Miyapur to Ameerpet, two wheelers are also available for hire. Obviously, this is not enough even if the metro rail authorities are happy with the increasing number of passengers to 70,000 on working days. The number could be much more if only the promised first and last mile connectivity is provided and that is acknowledged by metro rail authorities too.“We are forced to pay anywhere from ?30 to ?100 for an autorickshaw to reach the metro station from office or home. Auto drivers have anyway stopped coming by meter fares. It is cheaper to use the bike,” says Kumar, a private sector employee. “Unless you are travelling from one end to another, it is cheaper and convenient to use auto or taxi,” avers Krishna, another employee.

When the metro rail project was conceived, the plan was to have ‘merry go round’ mini-buses, which were supposed to be ‘Hop in, Hop out’ services in the ‘catchment residential colonies’ around each station. HMR authorities had even prepared a blueprint with the colonies mapped up, but this has remained a non-starter.TSRTC has initially introduced 50 buses on the inaugural route when the metro rail project was commissioned in November last year. However, gradually they have been withdrawn. Metro rail trains are being synchronised in such a manner that there is a train available at Ameerpet station when passengers travel from either end.

No such effort is on to sync up with MMTS trains run by the railways. There is also no progress on the common ticket for bus, train and metro.“We are doing things step by step. We are waiting for the State government to come out with its Electric Vehicles policy to introduce three-wheelers, and negotiations are also on with a few other parties, including TSRTC and SETWIN although the first preference will be given to the public transport body,” says HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy.